Palmeira Square
Palmeira Square | |
---|---|
Sir Isaac Goldsmid, 1st Baronet | |
Architectural style(s) | Victorian/Italianate |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
Official name | 33 Palmeira Mansions |
Designated | 18 July 1978 |
Reference no. | 1204933 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | 1–17 Palmeira Square and attached railings; 18–30 Palmeira Square and attached railings; 7–19 Palmeira Mansions; 21–31 Palmeira Mansions |
Designated | 10 September 1971; 4 February 1981 |
Reference no. | 1298646; 1187581; 1187548; 1187549 |
Location within Brighton and Hove |
Palmeira Square (/pælˈmɪərə/) is a mid-19th-century residential development in Hove, part of the English city and seaside resort of Brighton and Hove. At the southern end it adjoins Adelaide Crescent, another architectural set-piece which leads down to the seafront; large terraced houses occupy its west and east sides, separated by a public garden; and at the north end is one of Hove's main road junctions. This is also called Palmeira Square, and its north side is lined with late 19th-century terraced mansions. Commercial buildings and a church also stand on the main road, which is served by Brighton & Hove bus routes 1, 1A, N1, 2, 5, 5A, 5B, N5, 6, 25, 46, 49, 60, 71, 71A and 96.[1][2]
The land was originally occupied by "the world's largest conservatory", the Anthaeum—a visitor attraction planned by botanist, author and building promoter Henry Phillips. The giant dome's collapse and total destruction on the day it was due to open in 1833 made Phillips go blind from shock, and the debris occupied the site for many years. Work began in the early 1850s and was largely complete in the mid-1860s, although commercial and residential buildings such as Palmeira House and Gwydyr Mansions continued to be added at the northern end throughout the late 19th century. English Heritage has listed the residential buildings on the western, eastern and northern sides of the square at Grade II for their architectural and historical importance, although one building has the higher Grade II* status because of its opulent custom-designed interior.
History
The ancient parish of Hove covered 778 acres (315 ha) of good agricultural land on the southern slopes of the South Downs, leading down to the English Channel. There was Celtic and Roman occupation of the area,[3] and a Bronze Age barrow was found close to Palmeira Square's northern end when the land was being developed. Inside was a wooden coffin, a stone axe, a bronze dagger and the Hove amber cup,[4] a relic of international significance now held at the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. Some estimates dated the barrow as early as 1500 BC,[4][5] but radiocarbon dating indicates the burial took place in about 1239 BC.[5]
One of the main farms was Wick Farm,
On the land was a chalybeate spring, later called St Ann's Well, which became a popular visitor attraction by the mid-18th century.[9] In the early 19th century, its fashionable reputation increased[10][11] as neighbouring Brighton began to grow rapidly as a high-class seaside resort. Following the lead of Queen Adelaide, who would ride to St Ann's Well to visit the spa and take the waters,[11] wealthy residents and visitors to Brighton travelled across the parish boundary to walk round the gardens, visit the ornate pump-room and enjoy the apparently health-giving properties of the iron-rich water.[12]
Rev. Thomas Scutt, who owned the Wick Estate land by the 1820s, started to sell plots of land to "capitalis[e] on the insatiable demand for building land along the seafront".
In the early 1850s, Goldsmid (who had been given the title Baron de Goldsmid e de Palmeira by the Queen of Portugal in 1845)[17][18] decided to restart development at Adelaide Crescent. He abandoned the original plan for a horseshoe-shape plan and in 1851 commissioned an unknown architect to extend it northwards into a bottle shape, north of which (on the site of the Anthaeum) would be a new residential square: Palmeira Square.[19][20] The remains of the Anthaeum were cleared in the early 1850s (or possibly as late as 1855),[20] and work began.[14]
Houses on the west side of the square, close to the western boundary of the Wick Estate land,[8] were the first to be built.[20] The southernmost houses on each side are attached to the north end of Adelaide Crescent,[16] which was completed in the early 1860s;[21] "the transition from crescent into square is most elegantly handled in a double curve".[19] Between 1855 and 1870, 34 houses were built, all in the same "vigorous and healthy" post-Regency Victorian/Italianate style.[17][22] It took several years for the houses to be occupied. Numbers 33 and 34 on the west side were the first to be taken, in 1859, and by 1866 none of the 17 houses on that side were empty. The first house on the east side was let in 1864, and it took ten years for the whole square to be occupied.[22] Early residents included a wine merchant, a factory owner, and Lady Emily Fletcher who shared the house with her mother, five children and nine servants.[23]
An Anglican church to serve the area was provided in 1854. St John the Baptist's Church, a flint-built Decorated Gothic Revival building with a landmark spire, was designed by William and Edward Habershon. Work began in 1852,[24] and the site (at the northwest corner of Palmeira Square, where it joined Church Road) "compels traffic to take an abrupt turn before proceeding westward". It may have been built there to block attempts to build a road north from the Palmeira Square area into the mostly undeveloped land to the north which later became the Cliftonville area of Hove.[25] In keeping with the high-class surroundings, the church was "for many years one of the most fashionable" in either Brighton or Hove.[24]
The houses of Palmeira Square were separated from Church Road by a private road which ran parallel (east–west) to the main road, creating a second square of open space. Only residents of Palmeira Square and Adelaide Crescent could gain entry to it; there was a chain across each entrance and a watchman controlled admission.[26] Church Road itself was laid out as a thoroughfare in 1851; until then it had been a footpath.[27] In the same year, an Act of Parliament (the Brunswick Square Improvement Extension Act) was passed to bring Palmeira Square and nearby developments into the jurisdiction of the Brunswick Square Commissioners. Had this Act not been passed, the square would have been governed solely by "the rather nebulous authority of the Parish officials of Hove".[22] One consequence was that Sir Francis Goldsmid (who inherited his father Sir Isaac's estate on 1859) was able to delegate responsibility for the maintenance of the Palmeira Square Enclosure (the garden between the west and east sides) to the Brunswick Square Commissioners from April 1865. Previously Goldsmid himself had to employ and pay a gardener.[27]
In 1891, the Hove Commissioners (who now had civic responsibility for the square) tried to make the private road north of the square a public thoroughfare by removing the barriers. Objections from the residents delayed this plan for several years, but the road did eventually open to the public.[28] Accordingly, the land to the north was now considered part of the Palmeira Square area, and the development as a whole consists of two garden squares. The first is the original development bounded to the south by Adelaide Crescent, to the north by the former private road which is now a widened continuation of Western Road and to the west by the 34 houses of the square. The second is the lawned section formed by the junction between the extension of Western Road, Church Road and the connections between them, and all the surrounding buildings of the late 19th century.[29]
The open land in between these roads was laid out with grass and was named the Palmeira Mansions Enclosures after the "very fine" Palmeira Mansions were built on the north side of Church Road in 1883–84, effectively forming a new north side to Palmeira Square.[30] Local architect Henry Lanchester designed the mansions and Jabez Reynolds built them. Some of the houses were still unoccupied by 1891 because of a slowdown in the property market.[31] Despite this slump, another local firm, Clayton & Black, designed Gwydyr Mansions on an adjacent site in 1890. The luxury flats, in a Flemish Renaissance Revival style[32] which contrasts with their Italianate neighbours,[29] had an integrated bank, barber's shop and residents' restaurant.[33] In 1889, businessman A.W. Mason (owner of Mason's Ink) bought 33 Palmeira Mansions and in 1899 commissioned S. H. Diplock to give it a new interior according to "the most extreme Victorian theatrical taste".[29] This building is now owned by The English Language Centre Brighton, a language school. Tours of the interior are a feature of the annual Brighton Fringe Festival.[34]
On 2 June 1953—the day of the
According to a watercolour by an unknown artist (Adelaide Crescent and Palmeira Square, 1895) which was sold at auction in 2002, five tennis courts were intended for the Palmeira Square Enclosures. No work towards these plans was ever carried out.[36]
Written in the original deeds to each house was a requirement that the exterior of the building and its attached railings and doors had to be painted every three years. This was updated in 1892 to state that "three coats of best oil paint" in a pale stone colour had to be used. Observance of this rule lapsed over time until Hove Council reinforced it in the 1970s—stating that magnolia paint had to be used.[23] Other stipulations added at various times included the maximum number of flats each house could be converted into and a prohibition of drying laundry where it could be seen from outside.[37] Many houses have been converted into flats, including numbers 2–5 (in 1919), 7 (1922), 8 (1921), 10 and 11 (1927),[38] 20 (1932) and 30–34 (1904–10).[14][37]
Transport
Palmeira Square is a key destination for the city's buses: many serve it en route to other destinations, and the high-frequency route 25 terminates there.[39] The following routes, all operated by the Brighton & Hove bus company, stop at Palmeira Square:[40]
- 1/1A (Mile Oak–Whitehawk)[41]
- 2/2A (Shoreham-by-Sea/Steyning–Rottingdean)[41]
- 5/5A/5B (Hangleton–Patcham/University of Sussex)[41]
- 6 (Downs Park–Brighton railway station)[41]
- 20X (Steyning–Old Steine)[41]
- 25 (Palmeira Square–University of Sussex)[41]
- 46 (Southwick–Hollingbury)[41]
- 49 (Portslade railway station–East Moulsecoomb)[42]
- 21/21A (Goldstone Valley/Sussex County Cricket Ground–Open Market/Meadowview)[42]
The Coastliner 700 service from Brighton to Southsea, operated by Stagecoach South, also serves the square.[40] The nearest railway station is Hove, 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north.[43]
Residents
Literary journalist
Heritage
The east and west sides of Palmeira Square have been listed separately at Grade II by English Heritage, and Palmeira Mansions at the north side of the square has also been listed at this grade under two separate listings. Grade II status is awarded to "nationally important" buildings of "special interest".[46] As of February 2001 there were 1,124 such buildings in the city.[47] The east side (numbers 1–17)[48] and west side (numbers 18–30)[30] were listed on 10 September 1971. Numbers 7–19 Church Road (Rochester Mansions, Palmeira Mansions and Palmeira Avenue Mansions)[49] and 21–31 Church Road (the other sections of Palmeira Avenue Mansions and Palmeira Mansions)[50] were listed on 4 February 1981. Number 33 Palmeira Mansions was listed at the higher Grade II* on 18 July 1978;[51] such buildings are defined as "particularly important [and] of more than special interest".[46] There were 70 Grade II*-listed buildings in the city of Brighton and Hove as of February 2001.[47]
Palmeira Square forms part of the 95.92-acre (38.82 ha) Brunswick Town
Architecture
The square
Architecturally, Palmeira Square is "quite different from Adelaide Crescent or
The 17 houses of the west side
The terrace on the east side is identical,[17] again having 17 five-storey houses with hipped slate roofs hidden behind parapets, three-window ranges with sash windows and heavy Doric porches.[30] As on the west side, the house in the centre projects slightly from the terrace and has a larger square bay window rising through the first and second floors, forming a loggia which is supported on a colonnaded porch with rustication.[17][30]
Palmeira Mansions
H.J. Lanchester's Palmeira Mansions are Italianate in style, like the houses of the square. Some are stuccoed, but others have been painted. The walls are of brick and the roofs have slate tiles. The outermost houses (7, 19 and 21) have entrances set in their side elevations. Each house is five storeys including an attic storey, which has dormer windows added in the 20th century. Each house has a three-window range, and the centremost building is topped by a curved gable.[49][50] That at numbers 7-19 has a heraldic emblem, possibly that of Sir Isaac Goldsmid, in its tympanum.[49] The outermost buildings have full-height canted bays. Each storey is separated by a string-course across the full width of the building. The first-floor windows are arched and set forward slightly below an entablature and a central pediment. Straight-headed windows on the floor above are embellished with scrollwork, individual pediments and a bracketed entablature. At third-floor level, slightly round-headed windows are set in square recesses. At first-floor level, a cast iron balcony runs across the width of the building; it is supported by the Doric-columned porches in front of each entrance.[49][50]
Number 33, the other end of the western section of Palmeira Mansions, is listed separately at Grade II* for its "outstanding" and "remarkable collection of fittings from the 1880s"[51] (A.W. Mason bought the house in 1889, although the work may not have been completed until 1899).[29] These include multicoloured marbled floors, staircases, handrails, panelling, columns and dado rails; lincrusta wallpaper; gilded ceilings in a Moorish style; stained glass in various styles; ostentatious chimneypieces, including one by Doulton and others with "riotous swirling motifs"; an overmantel made of Venetian glass; decorative light fittings depicting cherubim and serpents; ceramic tiles by Arts and Crafts designer Walter Crane; and a Rococo-style former ballroom.[29][51]
Surrounding buildings
Gwydyr Mansions is at the northeastern corner of the square, between Rochester Gardens and Holland Road. An opulent set of mansion flats designed by local firm Clayton & Black in 1890, it is in the Flemish Renaissance style and combines ashlar and red brick in its "busy" façade. The entrance has Classical elements, with Tuscan columns in antis beneath a pediment; elsewhere, there elaborate gables, turrets and canted bay and oriel windows.[58]
Palmeira House, designed in 1887 by Thomas Lainson of Lainson & Sons, was that firm's first building for the Brighton & Hove Co-operative Supply Association. It is a "richly Italianate" stucco-clad office building.[20][33] Opposite, Zephania King's ornate Tudor Revival-style branch building for the London and County Bank (now offices), with tall chimneys and gables, was completed in 1890.[33]
St John the Baptist's Church, the Anglican church serving the area, was built between 1852 and 1854 to the design of William and Edward Habershon.[29] The flint and ashlar building is Decorated Gothic Revival in style and has a later tower (built in the 1870s) topped with a tall stone broach spire. All of the large windows have tracery in the Decorated style. The entrance porch dates from 1906–07. The worship space was cut down in 1990–92 when part of the building was converted by architect Mark Hills into the Cornerstone Community Centre. This required the addition of a tall steel-framed structure and a new glazed opening in the roof.[32]
See also
- Grade II* listed buildings in Brighton and Hove
- Grade II listed buildings in Brighton and Hove: P–R
- List of conservation areas in Brighton and Hove
Notes
References
- ^ "Palmeira Square (adj)". buses.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
- ^ "Palmeira Square (opp)". buses.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
- ^ a b Middleton 1979, p. 1.
- ^ a b c d Nairn & Pevsner 1965, p. 454.
- ^ a b c Middleton 2002, Vol. 7, p. 81.
- ^ a b Middleton 2002, Vol. 15, p. 87.
- ^ Middleton 2002, Vol. 15, p. 86.
- ^ a b Brighton Polytechnic. School of Architecture and Interior Design 1987, p. 84.
- ^ Antram & Morrice 2008, p. 112.
- ^ Middleton 1979, p. 2.
- ^ a b Dale 1950, p. 82.
- ^ Middleton 1979, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Antram & Morrice 2008, p. 113.
- ^ a b c d e Antram & Morrice 2008, p. 121.
- ^ a b Middleton 2002, Vol. 1, p. 73.
- ^ a b c Dale 1967, p. 155.
- ^ a b c d e f Antram & Morrice 2008, p. 120.
- ^ Gilbert 1975, p. 155.
- ^ a b Antram & Morrice 2008, p. 119.
- ^ a b c d Brighton Polytechnic. School of Architecture and Interior Design 1987, p. 85.
- ^ Antram & Morrice 2008, p. 118.
- ^ a b c d Dale 1967, p. 156.
- ^ a b c d Middleton 2002, Vol. 10, p. 17.
- ^ a b Antram & Morrice 2008, pp. 122–123.
- ^ Gilbert 1975, p. 173.
- ^ Dale 1967, p. 157.
- ^ a b Dale 1967, p. 158.
- ^ Middleton 2002, Vol. 10, pp. 17–18.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Antram & Morrice 2008, p. 122.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Historic England. "Nos. 18–30 Palmeira Square (consecutive) and attached railings (Grade II) (1187581)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
- ^ Middleton 2002, Vol. 10, p. 14.
- ^ a b Antram & Morrice 2008, p. 123.
- ^ a b c Antram & Morrice 2008, p. 124.
- ^ "33 Palmeira Mansions". The English Language Centre Ltd. 2012. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
- ^ a b Middleton 2002, Vol. 5, p. 39.
- ^ Middleton 2002, Vol. 10, pp. 2–3.
- ^ a b c d Middleton 2002, Vol. 10, p. 19.
- ^ a b Middleton 2002, Vol. 10, p. 18.
- ^ Cheesman 2012, p. 56.
- ^ a b Cheesman 2012, p. 5.
- ^ a b c d e f g Cheesman 2012, p. 6.
- ^ a b Cheesman 2012, p. 7.
- ^ Google (26 August 2012). "Driving directions to Station Approach/B2120" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
- ^ Allen, John (15 October 2012). "Architects and Artists I–J–K". Sussex Parish Churches website. www.sussexparishchurches.org. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
- ^ Middleton 2002, Vol. 9, p. 77.
- ^ a b "Listed Buildings". English Heritage. 2012. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
- ^ a b "Images of England — Statistics by County (East Sussex)". Images of England. English Heritage. 2007. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
- ^ Historic England. "Nos. 1–17 Palmeira Square (consecutive) and attached railings (Grade II) (1298646)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
- ^ a b c d Historic England. "Rochester Mansions (7), Palmeira Mansions (9–15) and Palmeira Avenue Mansions (17–19), Church Road (Grade II) (1187548)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
- ^ a b c Historic England. "Palmeira Avenue Mansions (21–23) and Palmeira Mansions (25–31), Church Road (Grade II) (1187549)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
- ^ a b c Historic England. "No. 33 Palmeira Mansions (Grade II*) (1204933)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
- ^ "Conservation Areas in Brighton & Hove". Brighton & Hove City Council (Design & Conservation Department). 2010. Archived from the original on 30 August 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
- ^ a b "Brunswick Town Conservation Area Character Statement" (PDF). Brighton & Hove City Council (Design & Conservation Department). 20 October 2005. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
- ^ a b Antram & Morrice 2008, p. 13.
- ^ Antram & Morrice 2008, p. 14.
- ^ Fraser, Rob (March 1991). "Bungaroosh (Bungarouche, Bunglarouge?)". Context (29). Tunbridge Wells: Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC): 7. Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
- ^ Antram & Morrice 2008, p. 7.
- ^ Antram & Morrice 2008, pp. 123–124.
Bibliography
- Antram, Nicholas; Morrice, Richard (2008). Brighton and Hove. Pevsner Architectural Guides. London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12661-7.
- Brighton Polytechnic. School of Architecture and Interior Design (1987). A Guide to the Buildings of Brighton. Macclesfield: McMillan Martin. ISBN 1-869-86503-0.
- Cheesman, Mike, ed. (22 April 2012). Bus Times No. 51: Summer 2012. Hove: Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company.
- Dale, Antony (1950). The History and Architecture of Brighton. Brighton: Bredin & Heginbothom Ltd.
- Dale, Antony (1967) [1947]. Fashionable Brighton 1820–1860 (2nd ed.). Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Oriel Press Ltd. ISBN 0-85362-028-8.
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- Gilbert, Edmund M. (1975) [1954]. Brighton: Old Ocean's Bauble. Hassocks: Flare Books. ISBN 0-901759-39-2.
- Middleton, Judy (1979). A History of Hove. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. ISBN 0-85033-325-3.
- Middleton, Judy (2002). The Encyclopaedia of Hove & Portslade. Brighton: Brighton & Hove Libraries.
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